Method of producing fuel-gas.



M. SKLOVSKY.

METHOD OF PRODUCING FUEL GAS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-8,1914.

Patented June 12, 191 7.

rrn

MAX SKLOVSKY, 0F MOLINE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'I'O DEERE &

oomranr, or MoLInn,

ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF PRODUCING- FUEL-GAS.

masses.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 1917.

Application filed September 8, 1914. Serial No. 860,709.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Mex SKLovsKY, a resident of Moline, in the county of Rock Island, State of Illinois, and a citizen of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Methods of Producin Fuel-Gas, of which the following is a specili cation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention has primarily to do with the production of a fuel gas made from crude petroleum or similar oils, and is designed to be used in connection with the heating of furnaces of a construction adapted for metallurgical purposes. My invention relates to the rapid and economical production and delivery to the combustion chamber of a furnace of a fuel-oil gas mixture into the composition of which enters an approximately exact and correct amount of air necessary for perfect combustion. With none of the methods or apparatus now in use for producing fuel gas for such furnaces is such a near approximation to the exact amount of air for a given quantity of oil attainable, so far as I am aware. To heat effectively and rapidly, high temperatures are required in metallurgical furnaces and the temperature of the furnace is dependent upon the temperature of combustion of the fuel as supplied to it. With any given fuel the temperature of combustion is dependent upon the initial temperature of the fuel and air previous to combustion and upon the exactness of the mixture that is chemically required to produce combustion. If the air is admitted in a quantity in excess of that required for'complete combustion such ex cess air tends to cool or reduce the flame temperature. In the ordinary types of oil burning furnaces'the air supply is always in excess of that actually required for perfect combustion, such result being due either to there being no proper control of the air supply or if regulated to more nearly admit the exact theoreticalquantity it is found that the oil does not burn properly, -that is it smokes heavily, due to imperfect mixing, and combustion within the furnace is incomplete so that the temperature is unduly reduced. The objections incident to the use of oil, as a fuel for heating suchfurnaces, are due to the fact that the oil, as such, is introduced in a liquid form directly into the combustion chamber or hearth, either in the form of a ing furnace having My invention departs from this method and contemplates the forming of a gas from such oil by the agency of heated air and mixing this gas with the heated air and injecting this mixture under continuous pressure into the combustion chamber instead of injecting the fuel oil in the form of a stream or spray. In the gaseous form in which the fuel enters the furnace according to my improvements the combustion takes place very rapidly, and, even with a small furnace, excess air is not required to be supplied.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein is shown an apparatus designed by me for carrying into effect my improved method,-

Figure l is a perspective view of a heatmy improved apparatus applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken at line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical, central section through the series of heating chambers through which the atmospheric air is forced and heated before mixing with the fuel oil.

Referring to the several figures of the drawings in which corresponding parts are indicated by like reference characters,

A represents the combined combustion andv heating chamber of an ordinary heating furnace such as 1s employed for certain metallurgical operations. B indicates the walls thereof, preferably of brick, as usual. C indicates the usual opening in the front wall of the furnace through which are passed the articles to be heated. D indicates an opening through the rear wall of the furnace into which projects the pipe that supplies the gaseous fuel to the chamber A. E indicates an opening in the upper wall for the escape of the burned gases. F, F, F, indicate three heating chamber sections, placed one over the other and located over the escape opening E. Each heating chamber section F is provided in the construction shown, with a plurality of flues F, the said dues of the different sections being preferably out of registry, so asto form a somewhat tortuous passage for the. escaping gases and thereby better utilize such waste heat to effectively heat the walls of the several sections F that together constitute the air pre-heating device. Such sections F are alike in construction and are secured together in such manner as to be removable one from the other, thereby permitting any number to be used, for it will be understood that while three sections are used in the construction here illustrated, the number will be varied to suit difierent sizes of furnaces. The several sections are each provided with an air inlet and an air exit, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, the inlet and outlet passages being at opposite ends of the section, and the sections are so arranged that the entering air traverses each section from end to end and thereby permits all the air that passes through the device to attain a substantially uniform temperature.

Gr indicates a pipe through which air is admitted to the sections F, it opening, as shown, into the upper one of such series 0 sections. The air so supplied is forced through the pipe under pressure by any suitable means' (not shown), by conduction through the .walls of the heating chamber as will be understood. H indicates avalve in thepipe G, by means of which the quantity of air passing through the pipe can be regulated or the supply shut off entirely.

J indicates a pipe connected to and opening into the lower heating chamber section F and passing through a suitable opening in the wall of the furnace where it is so connected to a vaporizing chamber K, as to deliver the heated air from the chamber sections F to the upper part of such vaporizing chamber. Also communicating with such vaporizing-chamber K, near the upper end thereof is another pipe, indicated by M, and of very considerably less diameter than the air-conducting pipes G and J, which pipe M is for conducting the fuel oil employed to the said vaporizing chamber K. N is a valve for controlling the flow of oil through the pipe. As clearly shown in the drawings, (see Fig. 2,) this vaporizing chamber is wholly outside of the furnace proper, it being in the construction illustrated, supported at a of the furnace. At its lower end it is in communication with the combustion chamher A through a pipe connection L that passes through a suitable opening D in the wall of the furnace into the combustion chamber.

The vaporizing chamber K it will be noted is constructed in the form of a series of bends, so that within a comparatively'small space is provided a long 011'- cuitous passage for the fuel, which is necesand receives heat little distance from the rear wall'- a pipe havinga but the velocity can be very considerably insary in order that the complete vaporization of the oil may be insured before it reaches the combustion chamber. It will be observed also that at each turn of the pipe I have provided short ledges or extensions P which are of special value in spreading the oil, particularly during the start of the time of such starting operation a small quantity of fuel oil will be allowed to flow down through the circuitous or winding passage of the vaporizing chamber and in passing over such ledges or extensions it will be better mixed with the air and sprayed out into the combustion chamber so that it is readily ignited by a torch held in such combustion chamber. After the combustion has been thus started the burned gases rising from the chamber A through the exit opening E and fines F will quickly'heat the chamber sections F and the air that is being forced through suchchamber sections F.

While the degree to which the air is preheated may vary I have found that in practice, with an apparatus such as illustrated, most excellent results are attained by having it, as it leaves the heating chamber, at approximately 800 degrees Fahrenheit, and as it may be assumed that about one hundred degrees of this temperature will be lost or consumed by radiation and in the vaporizing of the oil, it will be seen that the mixoperation of heating the furnace. At the ture will be discharged from the open or nozzle end of the pipe L into the combustion chamberiat approximately 700 degrees and hence is adapted for producing excellent heating effects. When the process is being carried on at the preferred preheated air temperature of 800 degrees above mentioned and with sufficient pressure on the air to give the desired velocity to the gaseous mixture at the nozzle, the heat carried by the air and the agitation created will cause substantially complete vaporization of the fuel oil in approximately one-tenth of a second, and also thoroughly mix the fuel oil vapor with the air. The agitation referred to is well attained by utilizing the pressure or flow of the air in connection with the indirect or tortuous passage through the vapor.- izing chamber. The velocity. with which the gaseous mixture is forced into the combustion chamber may vary according to the particular characteristics ofthe oil being used, for as is well-known, the speed of travel of flame propagation varies with difierent fuels. One hundred and fifty feet per second I .have found is'approximately the minimum velocity that can be successfully used with a vent flame propagation in the direction of the-source of supply of-the gaseous mixtupe,

creased, if desired, without detrimental effects. To increase the velocity more presssure or power would be required to force a given quantity of gaseous fuel mixture through the discharge opening or nozzleend of the pipe that leads from the mixing chamber to the combustion chamber. It is highly important to pass the air into the vaporizing chamber under such pressure or power as to insure a, sufficiently high velocity for the mixture asit approaches and enters the combustion chamber that it does not have time to absorb sufficient heat from furnace reflection or from the parts in close proximity to the combustion chamber that become heated, to rise in temperature to the temperature of ignition. This will be appreciated when it is borne in mind that with the gaseous mixture containing allthe elements necessary for combustion and having approximately a temperature of 700 degrees, and 1050 degrees being approximately the temperature of ignition, it would only require a fraction of a second for the mixture to absorb enough additional heat to ignite when in close proximity to the excessivelyheated combustion chamber unless the said high velocity is maintained.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. The method of producing a gaseous fuel for heating furnaces, which consists in preheating air to a. temperature high enough to substantially wholly vaporize fuel oil, passing the air so heated through a vaporizing chamber at high velocity, and introducing fuel oil into the stream of air flowing continuously through said vaporizing chamber, whereby the oil will be vaporized and thoroughlv mixed with the heated air, and combustion in the vaporizing chamber will be prevented.

2. The method of producing a gaseous fuel for heating furnaces, which consists in preheating air to a temperature high enough to substantially wholly vaporize fuel oil, passing the air so heated at high velocity through a vaporizing chamber of substantially uniform cross-sectional area throughout its length, and introducing fuel oil into the stream of air flowing continuously through said vaporizing chamber, whereby the oil will be vaporized and thoroughly mixed with the heated air, and combustion in the vaporizing chamber will be prevented.

3. The method of producing a gaseous fuel, which consists in heating air to a temperature of more than 500 F., and intro ducing fuel oil into and thoroughly mixing it with the heated air, meanwhile causing the stream of air to flow at a velocity greater than the speed of travel of ignition back along the advancing stream of the mixture.

4.. The method of producing ,a gaseous fuel, which consists in heating air to a temperature of more than 500 F., passing the air so heated at high velocity through a vaporizing chamber, and thoroughly mixing fuel oil with the air as it passes through said vaporizing chamber in the correct proportions to insure substantially complete combustion without the use of extraneous air. I

5. The method of producing a gaseous fuel and supplying the same to a combustion chamber, which consists in heating air to a. temperature high enough to substantially wholly vaporize fuel oil, forcing the air so heated toward the combustion chamber in a continuous stream flowing at high velocity, vaporizing fuel oil and mixing it with the heated air by introducing it into the stream of air'on its way to the combustion chamber, the velocity of the stream being meanwhile kept high enough to prevent ignition of the mixture; and then introducing the mixture into the combustion chamber.

6. The method of producing a gaseous fuel and supplying the same to a combustion chamber, which consists in heating air to a temperature high enough to substantially wholly vaporize fuel oil, introducing fuel oil into the air so heated and causing the mixture to flow throughout its course continuously at a velocity suflicient to secure thorough mixing of the vaporized fuel with tife air and to deliver the resultant gaseous product .into the combustion chamber at a speed of travel that is faster than the speed of travel of ignition back along the advancing stream.

7. The process of achieving transparent, high temperature combustion in the combustion chamber of a furnace by the use of liquid hydro-carbon fuel, which consists in heating air to a temperature high enough to substantially whol y vaporize the liquid fuel, causing thcair so heated to flow at high velocity to the combustion chamber, introducing the liquid fuel into the stream of air so heated in proper proportions to effect complete combustion, meanwhile maintaining a flow of the stream of the mixture at a velocity that exceeds the speed of travel of ignition from the combustion chamber back along the advancing fuel stream, and then burning the mixture in the combustion chamber.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

MAX SKLOVSKY.

Witnesses:

Josnrn DAIN, Jr;, W. G. DUFFIELD. 

